Electrically operated musical device



E. A. PEDICANO 3,186,291

ELECTRICALLY OPERATED MUSICAL DEVICE June 1, 1965 Original Filed July 8, 1960 f 2 H FIG. 3. 3O 2 28 I2 I4 I5 l6 FIG. 5.

OSCILLATOR FIG. 2.

OSCILLATOR G3 Oatnkbum United States Patent 3,186,291 ELECTRICALLY OPERATED MUSICAL DEVICE Ernest A. Pedicano, 11 Hertford St, New Rochelle, NY. Original application July 8, 1%0, Ser. No. 41,647, new Patent No. 3,115,803, dated Dec. 31, 1963. Divided and this application Apr. 5, 1963, Ser. No. 270,914 3 Claims. (Cl. 84-470) This is a division of the co-pending patent application Serial No. 41,647, filed July 8, 1960, now Patent No. 3,115,803.

The present invention relates to an electrically operated musical device which by manual operation closes one of a plurality of possible circuits to produce a predetermined sound.

Instruments of this type are already known to be used, for instance, as toys designed and intended for use by children and are operated either by a piano action or by employing a series of electromagnets in the form of solenoids associated with Xylophone bars, or by resonating sound producing elments and electro-magnetically operated units for striking and vibrating the elements.

It is one object of the present invention to provide an electrically operated musical device which permits the playing of simple tunes or musical compositions,to be readily played by children or adults without musical experience or training, by means of a printed music sheet or a particularly prepared music card.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an electrically operated musical device which comprises an oscillator circuit connected with a plurality of capacitors, each of the capacitors to be connected in parallel with one of a series of five bars, each of the latter being complementary to one of the five lines of a conventional music sheet or a specially prepared music card bearing musical notes, and a loudspeaker electrically connected with said oscillator, so that, depending upon the particular capacitor put into the oscillator circuit by a manually operated member, the capacitor circuit is closed to the oscillator and a predetermined sound is produced.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an electrically operated musical device which includes a conventional printed music sheet or a specially prepared music card, the music sheet or the music card being mounted on top of the device in such a manner that each of a series of five lines of the music sheet or of the music card, is superimposed or alined over an equal number of series of bars and a manually operated contact member is connected by a wire connection to an oscillator circuit, the manually operated contact member having at its free end a pin point, which perforates the music note printed on the music sheet and contacts the bar disposed below the music note on the line of the music sheet, thereby, closing a particular circuit through the capacitor coordinated to the particular line of the music sheet. By this arrangement a predetermined sound is produced. If, however, instead of a music sheet, a particular music card is provided, where in the place of the notes a perforation is provided in the card, through which the manually operated contact member is inserted toclose the circuit to the particular bar disposed below the music card, the capacitor corresponding to the line of the music card is put in the oscillator circuit, to produce a sound or tone corresponding with the particular note.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of the electrically operated musical device, designed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic showing of the oscillator circuit in connection with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a music sheet card;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of another embodiment of the oscillator circuit.

Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, the electrically operated musical device comprises a casing 1 having a bottom wall (not shown), a preferably, forwardly inclined top wall 2, a front wall 3 and preferably parallel side Walls 4.

The casing 1 is equipped with a source of electrical energy, for instance, a battery 5, an oscillator 6, one branch circuit of which leads to a loudspeaker 7, and a switch 8 which is preferably attached to and operated by a knob secured to the outside face of the front wall 3. At least one side wall has a cut-out or perforation 9 disposed opposite the loudspeaker 7 in order to provide the possibility to transmit the sounds produced upon closing respective circuits, as set forth below, outside of the casing 1. The top wall 2 is equipped with a frame 10 providing an inner open face of a size complementary to the conventional size of a printed music sheet 11. A series of live bars 12, 13, 14, and 16 are each disposed cross-wise within the frame 10 to be disposed below the music sheet 11, in alined arrangement, respectively, with the series of five lines F, D, B, G and E of the music sheet, the corresponding bars 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 being connected by respective electrical conduits 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 with the oscillator 6. Each of the conduits 17, 18, 19, 2G and 21 being connected with the oscillator 6, includes in series capacitors 22, 23, 24, 25 or 26, and each capacitor is designed to create a predetermined sound equivalent to the note appearing on any of the lines of the music sheet, if such capacitor is put in a closed circuit with the oscillator 6 and the loudspeaker 7.

A contact member 27 is connected by means of the wire 28dtg the oscillator 6, as clearly indicated in FIGS. 1 an In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 a conventional printed music sheet 11 is disclosed, in which case the contact member 27 has at its free end a pin 29 which perforates the music sheet at the place where the particular note is printed, so that upon contacting the pin 29 with the corresponding one of the bars 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16, one of a plurality of circuits is closed leading from the oscillator 6 to the corresponding one of the capacitors 22, 23, 24, 25 or 26, and then to the respective bars 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16 and through the contact member 27, through the wire 28, back to the oscillator, thereby producing a sound as long as the contact member 27 will engage the correspondin g one of the bars.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a music sheet card 11' is shown which is arranged in a manner similar to that of the printed music sheet, however, instead of providing the printed notes 30 on the printed music sheet 11, the five conventional lines of the key of the music sheet have instead of the printed notes perforations 30', and in this case the contact member 27' has a diameter substantially equal or slightly smaller than the perforations 30 denoting the note on the musical card 11. It is undoubtedly apparent that in this instance the contact member 27 is inserted through the respective perforations 30 of the music card, thereby closing one of a plurality of electrical circuits through the capacitors 22 to 26, to the oscillator 6 and thereby also to the loudspeaker 7.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, another embodiment of the electrically operated musical device is disclosed, in which the contact member 27 is merely a cylindrical body of conducting material. This embodiment is substantially equal with that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and thus comprises again a casing 1 having a top wall 2, a front wall 3, and side walls 4, and an opening on the latter for the loudspeaker 7. The top wall 2 is again equipped with a frame to receive a music sheet 11 or a music card 11', which is provided with a series of five conventional lines each for the respective notes 30. Below the sheet 11 or card 11 there are again arranged the bars 12, i3, 14, and 16 and conduit bars 12, 13, 14-, 15' and 16' are coordinated to each of the bars 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. The bars 12', 13', 14', 15' and 16' are disposed adjacent and close to the corresponding bars 12 to 16, so that upon engaging the respective bars with the contact member 27 the front end thereof bridges from the bar 12 to the bar 12 or from the bar 13 to the bar 13, and so on, which contact bars 12 to 16" are connected to a return wire 23. This embodiment has the advantage hat no return Wire extends from the casing 1 to the contact member 27 and the respective five circuits can be closed through the corresponding capacitors 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, by means of the conduits 17, 13, 19, 2t) and 21 to the oscillator 6 which is equipped again with a loudspeaker '7. The return Wire 2% is connected with each of the return bars 12' to 16 in order to close one of the respective circuits. In this embodiment a needle operation would. not be possible, as shown in FIG. 1, because the contact member must have a minimum diameter, capable of providing a contact bridge between each of the bars 12 to 16 to the corresponding bars 12 to 116 While merely for simplification the bars 12- to 16 have been only shown which correspond to the live lines E, G, B, D, F of the scale, it is to be understood that intermediate bars can also be provided with corresponding capacitors which are likewise connected to the oscillator 65, in order to play also the conventional intermediate notes.

It should be further emphasized that the same circuit arrangement cannot only be used for circuits which include capacitors to create the respective musical sounds, but the same circuit closing arrangement can also be applied to the known solenoid and electro-magnetic arrangement which operate a vibrating element to create the respective sounds.

While I have disclosed several embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that these embodiments are given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined by the objects and the claims.

I claim:

1. An electrically operated musical device comprising a casing having a top wall and side walls, a frame disposed on said top wall, said frame being adapted to receive a number carrying five musical lines and a plurality of musical notes thereon, a series of groups of bars disposed parallel to and below said musical lines, one bar of each group of said series being in parallel electrical connection with the corresponding bar of the other of said groups, electrical circuit means for producing a musical sound responsive to the bar selected from one group of said series, said electrical circuit means including a contact member engaging selectively one of said bars in accordance with the musical note carried by said member, and conduit means connecting said contact member with said sound producing means, said contact member comprising a body having a pin-pointed end, adapted to perforate said member carrying musical notes through said notes in order to provide electrical contact between said contact member and the corresponding of said bars.

2. An electrically operated musical device comprising a casing having a top wall and side walls, a frame disposed on said top wall, said frame being adapted to receive a member carrying five musical lines and a plurality of musical notes thereon, a series of groups of bars disposed parallel to and below said musical lines, one bar of each group of said series being in parallel electrical connection with one of a plurality of capacitors, each of the latter being in circuit connection with an oscillator having a loudspeaker connected thereto, and each of said capacitors being set to produce in conjunction with said oscillator a musical sound equivalent to the musical note disposed above each bar of said series, a contact member, a conduit means connecting said contact member with said oscillator, said contact member engaging selectively any one of said bars disposed below the corresponding of said notes, in order to close one of a plurality of circuits to produce the corresponding selected sound, said contact member comprising a body having a pin-pointed end, adapted to perforate said member carrying musical notes through said notes in order to provide electrical contact between said contact member and the corresponding of said bars.

3. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said note carrying member comprises a music sheet having notes printed thereon.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,288,455 6/42 Howard 84-405 2,516,579 7/50 Leonardson 84-470 X 3,115,803 12/63 Pedicano 84-470 LEO SMILOW, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN ELECTRICALLY OPERATED MUSICAL DEVICE COMPRISING A CASING HAVING A TOP WALL AND SIDE WALLS, A FRAME DISPOSED ON SAID TOP WALL, SAID FRAME BEING ADAPTED TO RECEIVE A NUMBER CARRYING FIVE MUSICAL LINES AND A PLURALITY OF MUSICAL NOTES THEREON, A SERIES OF GROUPS OF BARS DISPOSED PARALLEL TO AND BELOW SAID MUSICAL LINES, ONE BAR OF EACH GROUP OF SAID SERIES BEING IN PARALLEL ELECTRICAL CONNECTION WITH THE CORRESPONDING BAR OF THE OTHER OF SAID GROUPS, ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT MEANS FOR PRODUCING A MUSICAL SOUND RESPONSIVE TO THE BAR SELECTED FROM ONE GROUP OF SAID 